


So Many Kinds of Loveliness

by kallooh



Category: Blue Castle - L. M. Montgomery
Genre: Epistolary, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-18
Updated: 2014-12-18
Packaged: 2018-03-02 00:04:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,587
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2792522
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kallooh/pseuds/kallooh
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Valancy always thought letters quite wonderful (or, how she lived happily ever after)</p>
            </blockquote>





	So Many Kinds of Loveliness

**Author's Note:**

  * For [redgear](https://archiveofourown.org/users/redgear/gifts).



> "There are so many kinds of loveliness. Valancy, before this year you've spent all your life in ugliness. You know nothing of the beauty of the world."

October

Dear Cousin Georgiana,

Thank you again for taking Banjo and Good Luck. We miss them but know you care for them as we do. You have noticed, I am sure, how Good Luck likes his ears scritched.

The voyage went smoothly on the whole and we reached Granada three days ago. Sea travel was more comfortable than I anticipated, though I was glad enough to return to land. Barney reserved rooms at a comfortable pensione on a quiet but centrally situated street - close enough to walk to the Alhambra - we could just catch a glimpse of it from our room.

And oh, the Alhambra! So beautiful in places it took my breath away. I shall try to describe parts of it though the words will not do it justice. Impressive grand salas alternate with green, well ordered gardens. In the Court of the Lions twelve noble lions stand in an open courtyard holding a solemn fountain. (No waters dare burble playfully in this elegant place.) Tall columns meet in elaborately decorated arches - such intricate carvings cover so many surfaces in the Palace. Most are repeated geometric patterns that must have taken long ago craftsmen painstaking months, perhaps years, of work to complete. Other surfaces are covered with beautiful mosaics in blue, white and gold. Barney brought me here because he thought it might be similar to my Blue Castle, and it is in some ways but is also larger and more formal than my dreamed-of castle ever was.

We proceed to Florence in a week’s time, and then on to Rome. Barney wants to show me some gardens and other favorite places and I want to see the art - the churches and palazzos - and sit in the squares and watch people go by.

Yours sincerely,

Valancy

 

April

Dear Olive,

Congratulations on your recent wedding. Cousin Georgiana wrote of how beautiful you looked and how nice everything was. 

I am sending under separate cover some pretty glasses that I found in Rome and some Calvados from Normandy. Wishing you and Cecil happy.

Yours respectfully,

Valancy Redfern

 

May

Dear Mother,

I hope this letter finds you and Cousin Stickles well. How was the Engagement Picnic? I sent Aunt Wellington a teaspoon in her wedding pattern, perhaps she mentioned it.

Construction on our new house continues and should be complete late September. It will be located in Sainte-Marie, a small quiet town near Montreal. We shall move in soon after with some furniture, though will furnish it over time as we find what suits us and our home. I should like to have a cutting of my old rose bush for our garden.  When we are back at Lake Mistawis next month I will call on you.

We are happy to cover your account at Uncle Benjamin’s, no need to thank us. Should you need anything done around the house, Roaring Abel can take care of it and we will pay for it as well.

Your daughter,

Valancy

 

June

Dear Sophie,

I am a little sad to be writing you instead of sitting with you, sharing tea and talking of books and nature and some nonsense for good measure. But then it’s so lovely to have a friend to miss. I feel as if I’ve known you for years - never mind that it has only been mere months since Mrs. Parson’s party.

Our little Mistawis house was waiting for us much as we left it last fall. Roaring Abel - about whom I’ve told you - looked after it well and left the makings for a fire. Soon after we arrived we had a merry blaze going, the cats purring and staking their claims on chairs, and all feeling like home.

We plan to revisit all the old haunts and get to know them again. Soon though we shall have to start work on some adjustments in the cottage, for change is coming. The past two years have brought so many wonderful things - it’s hard to believe this one will happen too.

I do hope you can visit. Lake Mistawis is as beautiful as any of the far flung places I’ve seen. Come and we’ll walk in the moonshine - take rowboat rides - eat berries in the woods - and sit up late by the fireside before going to sleep listening to the wind in the trees.

Your friend,

Valancy

 

November

Dear Cousin Georgiana,

Thank you for offering to take Good Luck and Banjo again. They clearly consider you an old friend, judging by their treatment of you when you visited the island this summer. Banjo doesn’t sit beside just anyone. Though we are not travelling this winter and could have brought them to Sainte-Marie, we feel they belong in Muskoka country.

The preparations for the baby are nearly complete. Now we wait for his or her arrival - two months seems an eternity. Dr Redfern is nearly exploding with delight. He has already purchased enough toys to fill a store.

I was sorry to read of Mr. MacBride’s passing. From your description, the funeral was suitably solemn.

Yours sincerely,

Valancy

 

May

Dear Sophie,

I’ve always thought of letters as almost magical. The thought of your receiving this letter - the smile on your face when you open and read it - brings a smile to my face too.

We are back on our little island. Little Madeleine slept through most of the journey and has been as content as ever. We’ve taken her on a few of our favorite woodland walks - she looks around and seems to take everything in like an old soul - like her father. We are so happy we will be able to share the lake and woods and all of this special place with her every summer.

The stop in Toronto to meet with Barney’s publisher went quite well. He threw a small dinner party in our honour. I feared it would be a stiff and formal affair but one couple in particular, Mr and Mrs Kenneth Ford, kept it lively. Mrs Ford put me at ease and kept me entertained with stories of her life during the war. She organized the Junior Red Cross in her town and ended up taking care of a motherless baby (“and I didn’t even like babies!”, said she). Like you, she lost a brother in France. We were so sheltered in Deerwood and so fortunate not to have been touched by losses of friends and family.

I am very much looking forward to your visit. We have more books to discuss. There is a new patch of strawberries - the flowers on that little path by the pond are blooming - the woods are making ready for your arrival.

Your friend,

Valancy

 

February

Dear Mother,

How are you and Cousin Stickles? Cousin Georgiana writes that the winter has been particularly cold. I hope you have been staying warm.

I am enclosing a photograph of Madeleine at age two. She grows so quickly and now talks more than when you saw her last summer, every day she seems to add a new word. You will find her quite changed when we are back in Muskoka country in May. Thank you for the gift of the dress and stockings.  

Yours respectfully,

Valancy

 

June

Dearest Sophie,

Only two weeks until you arrive! How I look forward to seeing you and visiting our favorite spots again. I have not been to the little dell we discovered last year, I am waiting so we can find it again together. And when Maude joins us we shall be twice as merry.

We paid a call on my mother soon after arriving in Deerwood. It went as expected. Mother was severe and Cousin Stickles complained of her back - though was grateful for the liniment Dr. Redfern now sends by the case. Being in that dreary house seems to cow Madeleine, she is never as lively when we are there. Though to be fair being there almost cows me too. I keep Barney and the island in mind and escape as soon as is seemly.

Barney has been hard at work on another John Foster book. Madeleine and I have been roaming without him - though we don’t see as many animals we are very good at finding birds’ nests and little green shoots of new plants. Yesterday we came across the tiniest pretty yellow blossoms. Some days we stay home and draw and sing through the day. What joy she brings.

Have you finished the book you were telling me about? I will order it next time I am in town so that we can discuss it when you are here. Two weeks!

Yours affectionately,

Valancy

 

March

Darling,

How strange to be writing you - we have been apart so rarely in five years - not at all since that one awful night. Already I miss the way your eyes crinkle when you smile and having your arms around me.

Madeleine was quite the imp yesterday. We thought her lost for nearly an hour, scouring our home for her before finding her in the back pantry, happily eating jam. Like mother like daughter the Stirlings would say! She went to bed with a tummy ache, which I thought was punishment enough. Samuel by contrast has been an angel - easier to achieve when all you need to do is wave your adorable pudgy hands and smile at a loving momma.

Your father came by this morning. I fear he has promised Madeleine a pony. Hurry home before he builds a stable for her.

Much love,

Your Moonlight

 


End file.
